Jeremiah 29:12-13

Everybody always quotes (especially around graduations and big life changes) Jeremiah 29:11.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
This is a well known verse, and I have heard it so many times recently. From graduation cards to facebook statuses, its frequently referred to. This Sunday, however, Pastor Stafford mentioned Jeremiah 29:12-13. And since then I have been studying it and wondering why I never noticed it before.
Jeremiah 29:12-13
"Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Right now, in the midst of college prep and big decisions, this verse is so comforting. I am so grateful for a God who genuinely wants to me to seek Him, so that He can listen to me. How crazy is that? God wants me to seek Him, so that He can listen to me, and relieve whatever is bothering me. Pastor Stafford's sermon was about praying with hopeful assurance. Praying with the faith that God hears me, and will answer me. It was such a cool sermon! I learned a lot about how praying for the same thing over and over is not bothering God, but it is refining our prayers, to see if we really want what we are praying for. It certainly opened my eyes to some of the things I pray for.
I'm so grateful for a God who, when I seek Him with all my heart, will be found by me. Because He knows how much I need His direction right now!